Sudan Peace Efforts Continue Despite Imperialists' Destabilization Plans

[XXPANTHAXX]

Human rights charges cannot mask western aims to recolonize
the central African state

by Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor
Pan-African News Wire
Political Analysis

On July 14, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court
(ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo, charged the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan
al-Bashir, with genocide and crimes against humanity. This announcement
was made while negotiations were going on to reach a negotiated
settlement between the government in Khartoum, the capital, and the
various rebel groups based in the western Darfur region of the country.

In response to the ICC provocations, the Advisor to the President, Dr.
Mustafa Osman Ismail, reiterated the position of the government in
Khartoum, that it will in no way deal with the ICC. The Sudanese
government has declared that it will never hand over any of its citizens
for trial in a foreign court. Ismail maintains that the ICC has no
jurisdiction or mandate over the nation of Sudan or its people.

A recent article published by the Sudanese Media Center stated that:
"The Presidential Advisor said the UN Security Council decision upon
which the Darfur question was transferred to the ICC was defective
because it included a clause that exempts American nationals from
standing before that court a matter that undermines the whole concept of
international justice and allows for impunity."

Even though the African Union and the Arab League have stated openly
that the recent International Criminal Court (ICC) charges leveled
against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and other Sudanese governmental
officals, has done more to delay a peace agreement with rebel groups
rather create the conditions for a settlement. The United States and its
allies have demonstrated through various actions that a normalization of
the political situation within Sudan is not their priority.

Ismail emphasized in the Sudanese Media Center interview that "the
question of Darfur has become a window threatening the national security
of the country and that Sudan has waited so long for the international
community to come up with a solution and that this international
community was the first to commit a breach of the accords to which it
was a party when it sought to transfer the question of security
arrangements from the AU, as stipulated in the Abuja Agreement, to the
international community in a clear attempt to sow the seeds of sedition
between the Arabs and the Africans."

The Presidential Advisor also mentioned that "the international
community has so far failed to organize any meetings between the
government and the Darfur rebel movements despite the continued
declarations by the government that it was ready for talks any where any
time."

Sudan has also warned the United Nations that there will be "serious
consequences" for its personnel and infrastructure if the ICC moves
forward on threats to authorize an arrest warrant for the detention of
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. In an address on August 18, Ashraf
Qazi, the head of the UN Mission charged with supervising the a peace
accord signed in 2005 between the political parties in the north and
those based in the south, indicated that the monitoring group was
preparing for any such actions.

"We are taking all necessary precautionary measures including
strengthening our cooperation with Sudanese security institutions," Qazi
said. The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) is a 10,000-person
force whose objective it is to guarantee that the north and south abide
by the peace accords which brought about the end of a two-decade long
civil war.

Qazi also stated that the recent outbreak of fighting between the
political interests in the north and south of the country in the town of
Abyei placed the overall 2005 agreement to the test. In addition, the
Darfur rebel attacks on the city of Omdurman also created difficulties
in the efforts to reach a lasting peace with the Justice and Equality
Movement (JEM) as well as other groups fighting the government in
Khartoum.

As a result of the fighting in Abyei in May, it has been reported that
tens of thousands of people had taken flight from their homes. The town
of Abyei is located in an oil-rich area near the boundary between the
northern and southern regions of the country, which is Africa's largest
geographic nation-state.

Hostile threats and attacks have a long history

For many years the government in Sudan has attempted to chart an
independent course in regard to the interventionist policies of the
United States. As far back as the US war against Iraq in 1991, Khartoum
has refused to support the actions of successive imperialist regimes in
Washington. During the rein of the Clinton administration in August of
1998, the United States military bombed the only pharmacuetical plant in
Sudan. This was done supposedly in retaliation for attacks on the
United States embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

However, there was never any evidence that the plant at al-Shifa had
ever produced any type of chemical weapons as the Clinton administration
had charged. Moreover, it was never substantiated that the government in
Khartoum had any connection with the attacks on the US embassies in East
Africa.

Nevertheless, there was no acceptance of blame for the unprovoked attack
and the US government remains unremorseful for the destruction of this
facility which deprived millions of Sudanese of direct access to
medicines.

Over the last decade, closer political and economic ties have developed
between Sudan and the People's Republic of China. Approximately 80% of
the oil exploration and distribution is done in cooperation between
Khartoum and China. This phenomena has spread throughout the African
continent, where China has entered into economic and political
partnerships with various states in the region.

It is within this context that the present-day conflict between Sudan,
the US and its allies should be viewed. It is also significant to
consider that many of the people within the country are Islamic and that
the ruling party is closely allied with other Muslim and Arab countries.

Consequently, the US administration can conjure up its so-called war on
terrorism and radical Islam in its diplomatic, economic and military
struggle against Sudan. Nonetheless, anti-war and peace movements within
the US and Europe must uphold the right of Sudan to self-determination
and the necessity of the country to find its own methodology for forging
national unity and social stability.

The ICC indictments and the threat to issue arrest warrants against the
Sudanese President and other officials is designed to provide a
rationale for further interference in the country's internal affairs. On
August 18, President al-Bashir traveled to Istanbul to participate in
the African-Turkish summit in defiance of the ICC and other threats from
the western nations.

With all of the crimes being committed against the peoples of Iraq,
Afghanistan, Somalia, Colombia, Palestine, Zimbabwe and others by the
United States and its allies, any objective observer can see clearly
that the current hostile posture towards Sudan is crafted to advance the
interests of the imperialist countries.